The Top Nine Social Media Marketing Myths | Myth No. 9: You can't measure the results of Social Media Marketing.

Sure you can. Another old advertising saying (I’m an old advertising guy), this time from John Wanamaker, founder of the first department store in the United States (now Macy’s) is: “"I know that half my advertising works, I just don’t know which half."

The good news is that digital programs can be measured. You can use a variety of methods, including real time viewer data and traffic results on blogs and websites, mentions and re-postings on blogs and in social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, etc.; user comment statistics; click-throughs to your company Web site; even sales conversions. It is even possible to set up a digital dashboard to monitor your company’s social media footprint across many platforms. Check out sites like: Yandex Metrica (http://metrica.yandex.ru), Yandex Blog Search (http://blogs.yandex.ru), Pulse Tool (http://blogs.yandex.ru/pulse), Twitter Search & paid services such as YouScan.ru. [GS1] There are more myths about social media marketing – too many to be featured here -- including the myths that dismiss social media as a flash in the pan or a fad just for kids. Well, the fact is, even if your company doesn’t grasp social media, odds are social media has already grasped your company. The only choice is whether you want your customers to talk about you or talk with you. And, by the way, approximately 28% of Facebook users are 18-25, and more than half are 26 or over. So perhaps the biggest myth of all is that companies who fail to adopt a social media strategy will remain in business.

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For small, medium to large enterprises is it is far from simple because social media marketing does not scale very easily and it requires many resources, skills and processes that until recently were at an adolescent stage of development.